Calaveras reversed: Westward younging is indicated

Samples of limestone collected from strata in the southern part of the western metamorphic belt of the Sierra Nevada, which traditionally have been assigned to the Calaveras Formation, have yielded Early Triassic conodonts, and samples of metavolcanic rock indicate an Early Jurassic Rb-Sr age. These ages, together with previously published fossil and isotopic data, are consistent with general westward younging of units rather than with eastward younging as has been assumed until recently by many workers, chiefly on the basis of sparse observations of bedding facings. The rocks are strongly deformed, and the possibility that tectonism rather than stratigraphic succession accounts for the age pattern cannot be dismissed.